State Rep. Jack O’Malley, chair of the House Transportation Committee, today panned the governor’s decision to veto the Legislature’s proposal to sending $375 million in additional state funds for road repairs.
“Here’s what Gov. Whitmer wants— a $2.5 billion tax hike for Michigan drivers, which is an absolute no go,” said O’Malley, of Lake Ann. “She wanted built into the state budget a policy that would hurt rural Michigan and she didn’t get it. Unfortunately, to the Governor, that was a good reason to turn down $375 million additional dollars to road repairs and continue to stall getting a state budget completed.”
Leaders of the House and Senate chambers went back and forth with the governor’s office for months to work out a budget deal. In the thick of months’ long negotiations, Whitmer criticized legislators’ decision to return to their home districts for several weeks as a “summer vacation,” claiming lawmakers did not make sufficient progress on a roads plan.
“Here’s an important point: Several road proposals were laid on the governor’s desk over the summer and she rejected every single one,” O’Malley said. “In fact, while putting together a budget plan that saves taxpayers millions and ups investment in roads and education, the Legislature rolled out a bipartisan roads innovation plan to help the state and local communities maximize their funds.
“If the Legislature managed all this while ‘on summer vacation’ imagine what we’ll be able to do in the coming weeks and months when we make good on our promise to continue the conversation on fixing our roads. Campaign slogans are easy, getting the roads done is hard.”
State Rep. Beau LaFave (R-Iron Mountain), issued the following statement in response to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s decision to line-item veto key programs and priorities in the Legislature’s budget plan:
“I feel like I’m watching a bad slasher film. Here’s the plot: The governor gets a budget that doesn’t include her $2.5 billion gas tax hike and, on the eve of the first of October, she goes to town, slashing $375 million in additional funding for road repairs and axing $218 million in funds and programs for Michigan’s K-12 students.
“The governor can go on a rampage and veto as many items as she wants, but it won’t get her a 45-cent per gallon gas tax increase. Her slash-and-tax agenda just won’t fly. The governor keeps saying that this budget nightmare is about fixing the roads and not justifying a massive tax increase, but no one is buying tickets to see that show.
“Michigan is getting tired of the Whiplash Whitmer budget horror show – it’s time to quit the political theater and go back to governing.”
